In United States jurisdictions,obstruction of justice refers to a number of offenses that involve unduly influencing,impeding,or otherwise interfering with the justice system,especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors,investigators,or other government officials. Common law jurisdictions other than the United States tend to use the wider offense of perverting the course of justice.
The United States attorney for the Southern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in eight contiguous New York counties:the counties of New York (Manhattan) and Bronx,and the counties of Westchester,Putnam,Rockland,Orange,Dutchess,and Sullivan. Established by the Judiciary Act of 1789,the office represents the United States government in criminal and civil cases across the country. The SDNY handles a broad array of cases,including but not limited to those involving white collar crime,domestic terrorism,cybercrime,public corruption,organized crime,and civil rights disputes.
Michael Chertoff is an American attorney who was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security to serve under President George W. Bush. Chertoff also served for one additional day under President Barack Obama. He was the co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act. Chertoff previously served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit,as a federal prosecutor,and as Assistant U.S. Attorney General. He succeeded Tom Ridge as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security on February 15,2005.
Alice Stevens Fisher is an American lawyer and partner at the Washington,D.C. office of Latham &Watkins LLP. Fisher served as Deputy United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division from 2001 to 2003 and as an Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice Criminal Division for three years,from 2005 to May 23,2008.
The United States Department of Justice Criminal Division is a federal agency of the United States Department of Justice that develops,enforces,and supervises the application of all federal criminal laws in the United States. Criminal Division attorneys prosecute many nationally significant cases and formulate and implement criminal enforcement policy. Division attorneys also provide advice and guidance to the Attorney General of the United States,the United States Congress,and the White House on matters of criminal law. The Division was founded in 1919.
Sean M. Berkowitz is a former director of the Department of Justice's Enron Task Force. He prosecuted former employees of Enron who were accused of white collar crimes,principally accounting fraud. Most significantly,he was the lead prosecutor in the joint trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. In 2006,shortly after securing guilty verdicts against both,Berkowitz left the Department of Justice to become a partner at Latham &Watkins LLP in Chicago.
Beth Ann Wilkinson is an American lawyer based in Washington,D.C. She is a founding partner of Wilkinson Stekloff,a specialty trial and litigation law firm. Formerly,she was a partner in the Paul,Weiss,Rifkind,Wharton &Garrison law firm,where she worked in their Washington,D.C. office focusing on white collar criminal defense. Wilkinson began her legal career as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps,and she has also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in New York City.
The Office of Special Counsel was an office of the United States Department of Justice established by provisions in the Ethics in Government Act that expired in 1999. The provisions were replaced by Department of Justice regulation 28 CFR Part 600,which created the successor office of special counsel. The current regulations were drafted by former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal.
Latham &Watkins LLP is an American multinational law firm. Founded in 1934 in Los Angeles,California,Latham is the second-largest law firm in the world by revenue. As of 2022,Latham is also one of the most profitable law firms in the world,with profits per partner exceeding US$5.7 million.
John Richard Kroger is an American lawyer who served as the president of Reed College. He served as Attorney General for the U.S. state of Oregon from 2009 to 2012. Prior to being elected in 2008,he had earlier served in the Marine Corps,was an Assistant United States Attorney in New York,and a law professor at Lewis &Clark Law School in Portland. He resigned as Attorney General effective June 29,2012. On February 9,2018,he announced that he would be resigning as President of Reed College come the conclusion of the academic year. After leaving Reed in June 2018,Kroger went to teach at Harvard University for the 2018–2019 academic year. On October 1,2019,he became the first Chief Learning Officer of the United States Navy.
The United States Organized Crime Strike Force (Strike Forces) is a program of the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division empowering individual and coordinated units based in American cities across the country to pursue illegal racketeering by organized crime syndicates,including the Mafia,Gangs,the Irish Mob,the Russian mafia,and more. The Strike Forces have largely been eliminated since Attorney General Dick Thornburgh in 1989 merged the Strike Forces with the AUSAs,in what was called the "slow death" of the effort against organized crime. Other Strike Forces have been merged with the Strike Forces of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF),losing the focus of racketeering to focus on drugs and narcotics.
Lanny Arthur Breuer is an American criminal defense lawyer who currently serves as vice chair of Covington &Burling LLP. From 2009 to 2013,he served as Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice under President Barack Obama. From 1997 to 1999,he served as Special Counsel to President Bill Clinton. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Valerie Elaine Caproni is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Kathryn H. Ruemmler is an attorney who formerly served as principal deputy White House counsel and then White House Counsel to President Barack Obama. Previously a partner at Latham and Watkins co-chairing its white-collar defense group,Ruemmler joined Goldman Sachs in 2020 as a Partner and Global Head of Regulatory Affairs. In 2021,she was promoted to Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel.
Zachary Thomas Fardon served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. He began serving as the U.S. Attorney in Chicago on October 23,2013,after President Obama signed his commission. He resigned on March 13,2017.
Andrew A. Weissmann is an American attorney and professor. He was an Assistant United States Attorney from 1991 to 2002,when he prosecuted high-profile organized crime cases. He served as a lead prosecutor in Robert S. Mueller's Special Counsel's Office (2017–2019),as Chief of the Fraud Section in the Department of Justice (2015–2017) and is currently a professor at NYU Law School.
Brian Allen Benczkowski is an American lawyer who served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice. Prior to assuming that role,he was a partner at Kirkland &Ellis.
The 2017–2019 Special Counsel investigation involved multiple legal teams,specifically the attorneys,supervised by Special Counsel Robert Mueller,taking part in the investigation;the team representing President Trump in his personal capacity;and the team representing the White House as an institution separate from the President.
Carolyn Pokorny is a career federal prosecutor,currently serving as First Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Previously she served as the Inspector General for the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority at the Office of the MTA Inspector General. She is the first woman to hold that position.
Alvin Leonard Bragg Jr. is an American politician and lawyer who serves as the New York County District Attorney,covering Manhattan. In 2021,he became the first African American elected to that office. Bragg had previously served as Chief Deputy Attorney General of New York and as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York. In 2024,he became the first and only district attorney to secure a conviction of a former United States president.
